


made me feel like I belong

by ohmcgee



Series: ohmcgee's mallverse [48]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Retail, Asexual Character, F/F, First Dates, M/M, mallverse, transgender character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 09:45:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8396872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmcgee/pseuds/ohmcgee
Summary: Jon and Damian's first date is a group effort.





	

“You know,” Jay says at nine am on Saturday morning as Bruce soaps his hair up for him. “I think -- yeah, no. I think Damian’s too young to date.” 

“Oh no,” Bruce chuckles. “There’s no backing out now. He’ll have your head.”

“Right, but,” Jay says, pausing to duck his head under the water and wash out the soap. “I mean. He’d forgive me in ten or twenty years, right?”

Bruce laughs and turns Jason around, scrubs the soapy loofah across his chest and down his stomach. “What’s this all about, Jay? I thought you were excited.”

“Ugh,” Jay groans and lets his head thunk back against Bruce’s shoulder. “I don’t _know._ I’m being so lame, huh?”

“Never,” Bruce says, kissing the back of his neck. “But it’s hardly a real date. They’ll be supervised the entire time.”

“I know,” Jay says, sighing. “It’s just. I mean, I know I haven’t been around forever so I probably don’t have any room to talk, but from what I’ve heard from you and him, Damian hasn’t exactly been the most popular kid.”

“True,” Bruce says behind him. “But I’ve noticed a lot of changes in him since he met Jon.”

“I know,” Jay says, turning around to face Bruce. “He’s been really good for him.”

“Yes,” Bruce says, tilting Jason’s chin up to look him in the eye. “I’m failing to see what’s wrong with that.”

“What’s wrong,” Jay takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. “Is that he’s going to get his heart broken. Jon’s going to get tired of him and or he’s going to like someone else or maybe it’s Damian who wants to move on, but it’s still going to be _hard_ for him, you know? Jon’s his first -- and that doesn’t just --”

Bruce cups Jason’s face in his hands and brings their mouths together, kissing him until he feels the tension in Jay’s jaw relax. 

“I love you,” he says, kissing Jay between his eyes. “You have so much heart. And you’re right. Damian’s going to get his heart broken one day. He’s going to break hearts too, I’m sure of it. And you’ll be there, Jason. You’ll help him get through it. We both will.”

“Or,” Jay says, throwing his arms around Bruce’s neck. “We lock him in his closet until he’s forty.”

“If only,” Bruce says, pressing their foreheads together as the water turns lukewarm. “If only.”

 

: : :

 

They make it until two hours before they’re supposed to pick Jon up before they have to call in reinforcements. 

“ _I’m not going,_ ” Damian shouts at Jason through the bathroom door. “ _My hair is doing something ridiculous, I somehow developed hideous acne overnight, and all of my clothing is the worst thing I’ve ever seen._

Jason scowls at Bruce when he starts laughing, then picks his phone up and immediately calls Dick. 

Dick shows up half an hour later with a sack full of hair products, finds a long sleeved red henley in the back of Damian’s closet for him to wear with his jeans, and forty-five minutes later Damian comes downstairs, smelling like Dick’s cologne and hair gel and looking way too grown up for Jason’s comfort. 

“My face still looks terrible,” Damian pouts, which is about the time Tim and Roy show up. 

Jason called Roy while Damian was upstairs with Dick to ask him if the fair was still in town and when he and Tim found out Damian’s date was tonight they just kind of took it upon themselves to head over. 

“Yikes,” Roy says when he sees the zit on Damian’s forehead. “That thing ain’t kidding around, huh?”

“Oh, go fu--”

_“Language, Damian,” Bruce says, but he definitely shoots Roy a glare that says the same thing._

__

“It’s cool,” Tim says, patting the makeup bag in his hand. “I’ve got this.”

 

: : :

 

“You’re _not_ putting makeup on me,” Damian says, leaning far away from Tim when Tim opens up a new package or something that looks like flesh colored acrylic paint.

“Calm down,” Tim rolls his eyes. “It’s just concealer.”

“But --”

“Do you want me to make these zits look less monstrous or not?”

“Yes,” Damian grumbles, folding his arms over his chest as Tim blots some of the liquidy gunk onto a tiny orange sponge.

“I hope this is the right shade,” Tim says as he dabs it onto Damian’s skin. “I had to pick this up at Walgreens on the way over because everything I have would be way too light for you.”

“Why do _you_ wear makeup?” Damian asks, scrunching his face when Tim uses the pad of his ring finger to blend out the concealer. “Your skin looks fine.”

“Moisturizing is very important,” Tim says, moving to the one on Damian’s chin and repeating the process. “A lot of guys wear makeup, actually. It just, you know, enhances your natural features or whatever. Like, your eyelashes are ridiculous and I’d probably kill somebody for them, but add some mascara and --”

“Tim!” Jay yells as he bangs on the bathroom door. “We gotta get going, man. Whatever you’re doing, hurry it up.”

Damian’s comes out five minutes later, his skin looking flawless, cheekbones highlighted, and just enough mascara on his lashes to make them pop. 

“No,” Jay says, shaking his head. “No way. He --”

“Come on,” Bruce chuckles. “We’re running behind.”

The three of them get all the way to the car in the garage before Bruce’s phone goes off. Jay knows it’s important because Bruce just stops in the middle of the garage and his face goes pale. He even nods once, forgetting the person on the other end can’t see that, so he has to speak up a moment later and say, “Yes, yes of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Hey,” Jason says once Damian’s in the backseat, earbuds plugged into his ears. “What’s going on? Everything okay?”

“It’s Harvey,” Bruce says. “He -- he’s in the hospital. I’m his emergency contact.”

“Fuck,” Jay breathes out. He looks through the window of the car at Damian, then back at Bruce. “Go. Go be with him. I’ll take Damian.”

“Jay, are you --”

“Bruce, _go._ He needs you. Damian would probably rather you not be there to embarrass him anyway.” Jay says, giving him a crooked smile. “Let me know as soon as he you find anything out, okay?”

“Of course,” Bruce says, cupping the back of Jason’s head and pulling him into a kiss. “I love you.”

“You too,” Jay says, taking the keys from him and getting into the car, explaining everything to Damian as he pulls out of the driveway. 

 

: : :

 

Jon is ready and raring to go when Damian and Jay knock on the front door. Lana has to yank him back inside and force a coat on him before they go anywhere and Lois catches him by the hood to hug him before he runs off to join Damian in the backseat. 

“Where’s Bruce?” Lois asks, squinting to see if he’s in the car. 

“Something came up,” Jay says. “This is still okay, right? If I take them?”

“Of course it’s okay,” Lana laughs. “Two fourteen year old boys are kind of exhausting though. Glad it’s you and not us.”

“But seriously,” Lois says with a smile, reaching out to grab Jason’s shoulder. “If anything happens to my kid I’ll eviscerate you with my pruning shears and let you fertilize my rose garden.”

“Wow Lo’,” Lana snorts. “I thought we were going with ‘pleasant, friendly mom’ tonight.”

“That was me being pleasant,” Lois smiles at Jason. “Have him home by ten.”

“Right,” Jay says. He knows he’s probably supposed to be terrified of her, but mostly he just wants to _be_ her. “Or the garden.”

Lois laughs and finally lets him go, her smile easing into something less shark-like. “Just makes sure they have fun.”

“I don’t think they need my help,” Jay says, looking back over at the car, at Jon waving his arms around enthusiastically and Damian actually laughing. “By the way,” he says, turning back to Lois. “If Jon breaks my kid’s heart I just might have to start a garden of my own.”

Lois just _grins_ and turns to Lana, putting her arm around her. “I like him.”

“I like him too,” Lana smiles, leaning her head against Lois’. “Now let him go before the boys demolish the car.”

Jason laughs as he walks back to the car, wincing when he opens the door and the boys have some kind of ridiculous screaming music blaring. 

“That is not music,” Jason says, unplugging Damian’s aux cord from the radio and syncing his phone with the bluetooth. “I’ll _show_ you music.”

He’s totally going to have to have a talk with Lois and Lana about their kid not knowing who Cyndi fucking Lauper is. 

 

: : :

 

They arrive at the fair five minutes after seven and Jon and Damian talk about all the rides they want to go on while Jason waits in line to buy them tickets. 

After they get through the ticket booth Jason’s in the middle of asking them where they want to go first when Jon lets out this high pitched squeal and starts pointing at a giant stuffed alien at one of the game booths. 

“It’s gigantic!” Jon flails. “I don’t even think it would fit in the car!”

Jason sees it the moment it hits Damian’s face: he’s taken that as a challenge. 

Thirty minutes and nearly ninety percent of Damian’s tickets later, Jon has a giant green alien in his arms and the biggest smile Jay’s ever seen on anyone’s face. They play a couple of more games after that, then Jay asks them if they’re hungry. 

“I’m starving,” Jon says immediately and Damian rolls his eyes fondly, which Jason wasn’t even sure was possible until now.

“You’re always hungry. Do they actually serve food here?”

Jon literally gasps. “Are you kidding me? C’mon!”

Jason chases after them, giant stuffed alien in his arms because somehow it got passed to him, until they reach one of the food trucks. Damian scrunches up his nose while Jon orders them each a deep fried oreo and a thing of cotton candy to share and they find an empty picnic table to sit at. Jason’s not sure this could be considered “eating”, but he lets them have their fun while being mildly concerned that Lois will take off his head if Jon comes home with a stomach ache. 

“Are you sure?” Damian asks, eyeballing the thing in front of him, giving it a poke, then licking powdered sugar off his finger. “It looks disgusting.”

“It’s amazing,” Jon says, stuffing his in his mouth. “Jus’ try’t, Dam’n.” 

“Okay,” Damian says hesitantly. 

Jason wishes he had his phone out to the catch the look on Damian’s face after Jon shoved it in his mouth for him. Powdered sugar goes all the way up to his eyebrows and there’s melted oreo all over his mouth and for a minute he looks like an actual kid, filthy-faced and laughing and having the time of his life. 

After they get done eating Jason makes them walk around a little while to let their stomachs settle ( _maybe_ Dickie puked on him a few too many times that year they came to the fair every single night it was in town and maybe he’s a little bit traumatized from it), then he finally lets them loose. 

He texts Bruce in between roller coaster rides and tilt-a-whirls, checking in on him and asking if Harvey’s alright, but he never gets a response. 

“Waiting on your kid?” Some guy who’s been hanging out by the rail surrounding the tilt-a-whirl asks him. 

“Oh,” Jay says, trying to look around the giant alien head. “He’s -- yeah. You?”

“Nah,” the guy grins. He looks Jason’s age, maybe Dickie’s, and he’s wearing a long sleeved shirt but the sleeves are pushed up enough that Jay can see the ink underneath, full sleeves it looks like. “Brought my little sis.”

“That was nice,” Jay says, looking back up to see if he can find Damian and Jon on the ride. 

“Yeah, my mom promised to take her but she had to pull a double shift,” the guys adds. “Being a single parent is rough, right?”

Jay nods distractedly. “Yeah.”

“I’m Shawn, by the way,” the guy says and sticks his hand out and Jason has to swap Jon’s alien to his other side so he can shake his hand. 

“Jay,” he says, pulling his phone out of his pocket when it vibrates, hoping it’s from Bruce, but it’s just a text from Dickie asking him how many days are in November. 

“We’re probably leaving after this,” Shawn says as Jay slides his phone back into his pocket. “You got any plans later?”

“I don’t know yet,” Jason says, watching Damian and Jon getting out of their seats and walking woozily today the entrance. “Friend of mine’s in the hospital, so I need to check on him and I gotta get this one home before ten.’

“Can we get more cotton candy _now_?” Jon asks. 

“See ya, man,” Jason laughs as Jon drags him away by the hem of his shirt toward the cotton candy booth, but he can feel Damian’s eyes trying to stare through him. 

“Who were you talking to?” Damian asks with the same accusatory tone he used when he found out Jason tried to put a pirate hat on Titus. 

“Some guy,” Jay shrugs. “He was waiting on his sister or something. Why?”

“Cuz he was totally _flirting_ with you,” Jon says as he stands in line, elbowing Damian in the ribs. “Wasn’t he?”

Damian just glares and Jason bursts out laughing. 

“ _What_ is so funny about you cheating on my father?” Damian demands and that just makes Jay laugh harder.

“Okay one,” Jay says, still laughing. “Talking to someone else doesn’t mean cheating. And two, I had no idea that guy was hitting on me until you brought it up. Seriously, what the hell.”

“He was kinda hot,” Jon shrugs after they hand him his cotton candy and Jason tries not to laugh when Damian scrunches his nose up like Prince when they try to give him his flea pill. 

“He was dumb,” Jay says, corralling them to the side of the fair they haven’t been to yet. “Come on. We’ve got a least three more rides to see if we can make Damian puke blue cotton candy everywhere.”

 

: : :

 

“I’ve never been on one of these before,” Damian says after the ride operator makes sure they’re buckled in safely. 

“I have,” Jon grins. “They have this huge fair every summer where my dad lives and he takes me on the ferris wheel every year. It’s the biggest one in the _state._ ”

“Cool,” Damian says, his stomach turning to knots as soon as the ride slowly starts moving. It’s not the ferris wheel that makes him nervous though. Damian’s seen enough stereotypical teenager movies to know what’s supposed to happen when you go on a ferris wheel with your boyfriend. 

When they’re almost at the top Damian puts his hand on the seat between them and his fingers brush against Jon’s and Jon just grins and links their fingers together like it’s the most natural thing in the world, like Damian’s hand isn’t disgustingly slick with sweat. 

“Scared?” Jon asks him and Damian shakes his head. 

“Of course not,” he says, then leans to the side to look down as if he needs to prove his point. “It’s actually very beautiful from up here. You can see the entire city almost.”

When he turns his head to look at Jon Damian suddenly realizes how close he is still. Jon’s blue-green eyes are lit up like the skyline and his mouth is still sticky from the cotton candy they had earlier, and Damian knows what’s going to happen next. He knows it’s what’s _supposed_ to happen. He likes Jon. He really, really does and he knows that if he wants Jon to like him back this is just what he has to do. Everybody kisses. Kissing is easy. He can do this. He can --

“Is it okay if I kiss you?” Jon whispers and Damian locks up. His hands are shaking. He doesn’t want to be like this. He wants to be normal. He wants to show Jon that he likes him, but he _can’t_ and --

“Damian? Are you --”

“Is it okay if we don’t?” Damian finally works up the courage to say, heart pounding so hard in his chest he doesn’t know how Jon doesn’t hear it. 

“Sure,” Jon says, taking his hand away from Damian’s to dig around in his pocket for the half eaten bag of M&M’s there. “You want my brown ones?”

Damian lets out a shaky breath and holds out his hand, feeling like a massive weight has just been taken off his shoulders.

“Yeah,” he says, taking the ones Jon doesn’t like. “Those are my favorite.”

 

: : :

 

Jay crawls into bed alone later that night, exhausted and still smelling like deep fried twinkies despite the incredibly long shower he took, then calls Bruce to see how everything’s going. 

“Hey,” Bruce says when he answers the phone. He sounds even more exhausted than Jason feels. “I guess I don’t get very good service in the hospital room. I just stepped outside. How did it go?”

“Fine,” Jay says. “They had a blast. I didn’t get thrown up on. How’s Harvey?”

Bruce sighs into the phone. “He’s fine, just a little banged up.”

“Banged up?” Jay asks. “What the hell happened?”

“He was in an accident,” Bruce tells him. “Fortunately he didn’t hit anyone, just wrapped his car around a light pole.”

“Was he --”

“He was being _stupid_ ,” Bruce says, then sighs again. “He had been drinking. God, he’s really spiralling, Jay.”

“I know,” Jay says softly. “But he’s got you.”

“And you,” Bruce says. Then he’s quiet for a few minutes before he says, “I wish I had been there tonight.”

“You would’ve hated it,” Jason laughs. “But apparently some dude tried to pick me up by the tilt-a-whirl.”

“Jason,” Bruce says severely. “Are you leaving me for a carnie?”

“Oh yeah.” Jay laughs. “Didn’t I tell you? Mullets really get me going.”

“Thank you,” Bruce says after he gets done chuckling. “For taking the boys out and for letting me be here for Harvey.”

Jason doesn’t say anything for a moment, just rolls onto his back and closes his eyes. It’s still weird being in Bruce’s house by himself, but mostly he just misses Bruce’s body pressed against his. 

“I called Damian my kid tonight,” Jay finally says, biting his lip as he waits for Bruce’s response.

“Have I told you,” Bruce replies. “How very much in love with you I am?”

“I mean,” Jay says, grinning. “At least not for a few hours.”

“Well, that’s unacceptable,” Bruce says. “How can I make it up to you?”

“Hmm,” Jay says, rolling over onto Bruce’s pillow. “Sing me that song you and Harvey were playing the other night?”

“It’s not really finished,” Bruce says. “But if that’s what you want.”

Jason closes his eyes and smiles as Bruce’s low, gravelling singing voice carries through the phone and lulls him to sleep. 

He’s definitely had worse days.


End file.
